Ans of Prey
by lolzwaitwhat
Summary: The Ans had finally cornered the infamous Serpent King, feeling on top of the world. With this, they'd show the Justice League they were hero material and rid the streets of this infamous gang leader... But then his sons just had to get in the way. Now the Ans have to keep both identities underwraps while struggling to find a way to get these jerks to scram!
1. Some Guys Just can't take a hint

The three Ans plopped down into their cushy armchairs and sofa in the living room of their apartment, still dressed in their Superhero costumes.

"Well, that sucked." Anny groaned, still dressed as Royal Diamond as she inspected her hand and scowled at her broken nail, it had broken while they'd made their escape, her sonic scream could launch jerks to Kingdom Come, but one particular jerk had tried to smack her hard in the face with his gun as she screamed, missing her face but hitting her hand instead and breaking her nail.

They had been_ so_ close to getting their first busts as Superheroes but somehow their usual amounts of horrible luck managed to ruin all of their hard work.

_Again_.

They had gotten into the party of infamous Mob leader, the Serpent King, (A.K.A Mr. Kanker) only to end up on stage in front of their entire gang, with him sitting right in the middle with his three nearly as infamous sons.

So, with a whole den of violent gangsters looking them down and readying their guns, Anny did what she had to do;

Sing.

They had definitely stolen the show, they even managed to charm the Serpent King's stupid sons enough to make them back away so they could end the show at his table. But while they were soaking up the cheers and getting ready to capture the Serpent King, his sons suddenly each grabbed one of them and dragged them to various ends of the room.

Because _of course_ they did a little_ too_ good of a job charming them.

With the three of them scattered about the room, the Serpent King managed to slip away and they were left with his three monster sons giving them looks they knew meant nothing good.

So, Double-N (Ann) as Ruby Spider, pulled a smoke bomb and An, as Jade Enforcer, flung a table out a nearby window once it was hard to see before the three of them made their exit… loudly… and violently… because _of course_ that's how their night would go.

Anny scowled as she recalled how the son who cornered her, Tee Kanker, aka Basilisk, had looked her up and down as he purred in a low voice how he wondered how she'd look without the mask… among other things. He was the eldest child of the stupid Serpent King who was in charge of several illegal businesses, such as drug running and money laundering and rumor had it he could make anyone do what he wanted them to, so he was more than just a little surprised when she told him to go fuck himself… among other things.

He also seemed a bit too happy about her reaction to his disgusting suggestions.

Ugh! Now she wished she broke her nail from decking him! But luckily she didn't and it kept her from having to avoid even more bullets.

"That could have gone better," Double-N agreed as she removed her mask, pulled down her hood, revealing her hair to be messy and tangled from being flung around for who knows how long blocking bullets, broken glass and a few flung blades. She retrieved a comb from her hood and moved a nearby empty decorative bowl from the side table into her lap. She then carefully laid out all of her devices, potions and inventions from her hood and belt before she pulled her hair over her shoulder and began combing out the tangles, the knots, bits of broken glass, metal and flattened bullets out of her hair with a wince every now again from the glass scraping her fingers, face, ear or neck.

"The good guys are always supposed to win…" An pouted as she slumped further into her chair until she was at risk of sliding off completely, a layer of green goop crystallizing on her fingers. She'd managed to trap several bad guys in her goop and make sure it crystallized to jam their guns, but they just shot the crystallized gunk at them, hurting themselves in the process, much to both of her friend's dismay.

"We'll get 'im, we just need ta lay low for a while." Anny said, unwilling to give up when they had already gotten this far.

Her friends nodded and Double-N frowned as something much larger than the shards of glass or busted bullets fell into the bowl and looked at it, curious for a moment.

Her face immediately paled and she reached into the bowl, her gloves protecting her fingers from the glass as she murmured, "Oh dear, oh dear!"

"What is it now?" Anny groaned only for her to look as her brainy friend held up a small, round, flat black disc with a small red blinking light on it.

Shit, was that a…

"What is it?" An asked, the green crystallized goop falling off her hands and onto the carpet… again.

"It-it's a tracking device, An." Double-N murmured softly, "It doesn't seem to have any kind of audio or video recording device in it, but still, they probably know our location by now..." she held a handful of her own ebony locks and stared at it, horrified, "I can't _believe_ I hadn't notice it sooner…"

"Shit!" Anny snapped, glancing at a nearby window, "Girls, we need to change. _Now_."

Her friends nodded in agreement before they all popped up from their seats and quickly changed into their pajamas before regrouping in the living room to stare at the small tracking device on their living room table.

Double-N winced and placed a hand on her neck, which now had a small cut with blood slowly oozing out of it.

"Double-N!" An gasped before grabbing the comb and the bowl and resumed what their brainy friend had started; removing the harmful elements from her still somewhat messy hair.

"Thank you, An." she said softly, looking up at Anny, upset and guilty, "I'm _so_ sorry. I really didn't notice it in my hood or hair at all…"

Anny picked up the tracker, it was the same size and weight of a dime, which, compared to all the other crap that Double-N had defended them from that night that would weight down her hair and what was regularly in her hood, the thing was pretty light.

"Not yer fault." She told her before looking out her window and seeing a pick up truck sitting outside their building, most likely holding the men who had wrecked their chances earlier that evening, "_Some guys just can't take a hint_." She growled as the disc snapped in half in her fingers.

* * *

Hey guys, look I'm not dead! :D

I just wanted to give a shout out to the creator of this crossover: Lemonadkitera33, Donutsarelife, who further helped light a fire under my butt with her drawing of the Kankers reacting to the Ans in their superhero costumes, and Funnypopgirl, for beta reading this when I probably should have left you to rest for a little while longer. (CHECK OUT THEIR DEVIANT ARTS, THESE GIRLS ARE AMAZING! LOVE YOU ALL!)


	2. The long way back

Tee yawned and looked at the bare GPS app on his phone for the tracking device Larie slipped onto that red and black broad back at the party. He had to hand it to his younger brother, while he wouldn't think to do something like that, it really had come in handy tracking them down to this nice apartment building…

Until the signal suddenly stopped a few hours back.

Meaning that either the tracker died on him, which was not very likely since Larie assured him that it had a battery life that could last at least three days before they'd need to charge it again, or that it had somehow gotten destroyed.

Which was the most likely and also the most stupid…

But, then again, until Jay found out who lived in the apartments in the exact spot the tracker had last sent them or until Larie could get a DNA result from the broken nail the gal he'd been chatting with left behind, they couldn't be sure the girls didn't just ditch it on the roof and break it or something before running off somewhere else and…

His mind went blank as he watched a tall woman with a long pink ponytail and vivid blue eyes come out of the apartment building wearing running clothes that clung to her curves in all the right places and who practically _oozed_ sass as she stretched for a moment, head phones tucked into the low cut neckline of her tank top.

That was her.

That was the girl he was chatting up last night.

There was no way it couldn't be… well, unless she had a twin or something, and even if she did, he sure as hell wasn't complaining if there were two women that could give him a challenge.

Most of the women who hung around were just there because they wanted something from him, his brothers or their dad. Never going out to try to get something for themselves, they were needy, greedy, _whiny_ things.

But that girl last night? She didn't want or need anything from him. She was obviously the kind of woman who could stand on her own two feet and didn't need any help from the likes of him. Hell, just him flirting with her riled her up enough to tell him, the Serpent King's eldest child, right where he could stuff his offers.

And when she fought? She held _nothing_ back. Every punch, every kick, hell, every _scream_ sent thugs flying.

This woman had no problem telling it like she saw it and did so loudly and proudly.

Heh, his kinda gal. Especially with his power.

He pushed his hair down further over his eyes, which had the unfortunate ability to hypnotize. He hated his power, but it was useful in their line of business. He wondered if the sexy lady before him could withstand his stupid 'superpower' before realizing that she was now starting her run…

Shit.

He needed to follow her… For intel reasons… But it was still fairly early in the morning and she'd notice him following her if he was the only car on the road (which he was) and it wasn't like he could hop out and join her, he was still wearing the suit he wore last night. If that didn't make him stick out while running after her…

His phone rang, but he didn't so much as flinch as he answered it, "What?" he growled into the phone, frustrated.

"Good mornin' ta you too, Sunshine." Larie replied, "Jay and I got results, get yer ass over here." He told him before hanging up.

He watched as the woman turned the corner and smiled, "Think I'll take the long way."


	3. Too close for comfort

Anna Marie sat in the living room, nervously running a hand under her turtle neck, her fingers gently brushing over the bandages as she went over the intel she had on the Serpent King's Empire on her laptop again, An inhaling a bowl of Chunky Puffs at the kitchen table loudly enough for her to hear the mess she was making and wince a bit at the sound.

At least it was a distraction from the unpleasant knowledge that her fears last night were now confirmed; the man who had hit on her last night was the most dangerous of the trio;

Larie Kanker, aka Wyvern, who was in charge of security and, according to police theory, FBI, Interpol and the Justice League, the more _violent_ side of the family business, mainly murder and arson.

A man suspected in so many horrible acts had been twirling a strand of her hair and asking what was under the costume and if he could have a look, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth as he asked that and a silver stud shining in the dim light...

Ann shivered at the memory, her arms quickly becoming covered in goose bumps that she tried to rub away…

She was also grateful that the cuts and scrapes on her neck and back from the sharp objects that she'd blocked with her hair weren't too deep or painful, not that she couldn't of handled it. She was a medical student, after all.

She felt her body begin to shake a bit and held herself for a moment, medical student of not, the man who flirted with her so easily last night and impishly curled a lock of her hair between his fingers could have just as easily broke her neck without much effort.

She closed her eyes as she silently thanked various deities that they'd managed to get out of there with so few injuries. It wasn't often that they got away from trouble without one of them getting hurt enough to have to find a creative way to hide it from the world for a while. She counted her blessings that she only had a few cuts and bruises when she literally had been breaths away from a murderer.

"You okay, Double-N?" An asked from the kitchen.

She looked at her simple friend, whose unibrow was scrunched into a concerned frown, her lip in a pout that practically screamed, 'friend hurt equals An sad'.

"I'm fine An." She fibbed, quickly closing out the program and closing her laptop as she said, "Just a slight chill." She then gave her arms another rub, hoping it would sell her excuse.

An looked at her for a moment, still worried, before Ann gave her a gap toothed smile and asked, "Aren't you filming today?"

An's face brightened immediately, "Yeah! We'll be in a restaurant today!" She then pouted, "It won't be a monster scene, though…"

"Well, it should just be an interesting day, at least." Ann said, "It's your first shoot as a camera woman!"

An's face erupted into a broad grin and she nodded.

"We are so proud of you, An." Ann told her as she checked her watch.

Oh dear, it was getting late! They'd all have to go to work soon and she should pack them all a lunch, after all, it would be safer for them to have a lunch and not have to leave the safety of their work places than to risk walking into one of those Kankers while trying to purchase one from somewhere.

She got up from her spot and joined An in the kitchen to pack some simple lunches for the three of them, "Should we celebrate later when you get back?" she asked, wanting to continue the more cheerful conversation and keep her mind off of a recent slaughter believed to be done by Larie Kanker that she had just finished reading about.

An beamed and vigorously nodded again, her tongue sticking out gleefully.

"Alright, I'll pick some things up on the way home after my shift at the library." Ann promised as she began making lunch for the three of them.

Before either one of them said another word, Anny burst through the door, frustrated before slamming it behind her.

"I take it that your jog did _not_ go very well this morning?" Ann guessed as she placed a few fruits in the three brown paper bags on the counter and began making a sandwich.

"THAT FRIGGIN' KANKER FOLLOWED ME FOR OVER A MILE!" She shouted angrily as she flung her towel onto An's face, making her chuckle as Anny grumbled about how, "Wonder Woman doesn't havta deal with this kind of shit!"

"Did he suspect you?" Ann asked, concerned, a half made sandwich on a plate in front of her.

Anny snorted as she locked the door behind her, "The only thing he suspected was that I'm _easy_!" She pushed back a few stray strands of sweat soaked pink hair off of her face as she let out a frustrated huff as she joined them in the kitchen.

"He kept staring at me and making gross comments at me as I ran. Took everything I had not to just send him and that truck of his flying with a loud '_Fuck_ _off_'." She growled as she plopped down in the seat across from An, "He finally drove past me when I was on my way back home. Only flipped him off with one hand 'cause one of my middle fingernails broke last night and I don't want to give him any more clues to use against us."

"We thank you for your restraint, don't we An?"

"It's dark!" An giggled. Anny groaned and pulled the towel off of her face as Ann finished up making lunches and the three went over their schedules for the day and agreed to have a party for An's first day as a camera woman after work. After jotting down a quick list of things to pick up later, Ann packed her satchel up and hitched it over her shoulder.

"Well, ladies, I'll be off!"

"Off of what?" An asked.

"Just be careful, Genius." Anny warned, "Those guys have their eyes on us, and it doesn't matter if it's because they think we're Superheros or easy pickin's, you should know better than anyone that their attention ain't good." An nodded in agreement.

Ann swallowed as a few of the Justice League's records of Larie Kanker's more violent crimes popped back up into her head and she nodded, her mouth suddenly dry as she then wished her friends well once more before nervously exiting their apartment.

The further she walked from her friends, from the safety of their apartment, the more she felt as if she should have asked Anny or An to walk to the bus stop with her, but she didn't. No, that would be seen as odd, as she usually went to take the bus to work and school alone and people would notice the company with her as odd and it would be remembered and probably mentioned if asked. She needed to be brave and vigilant.

Even though the idea of calling in sick and staying home today was so very tempting…

She walked onto the bus with a lack luster greeting to the bus driver and, after explaining that she was just in a bit of a funk this morning when asked if she was alright, took a seat.

She sighed and looked out the window, she just had to stay focused and not attract suspicion, and the best way to do that was to do what she always did and stay calm.

Speaking of what she always did…

She smiled softly as she pulled a book from her bag, it was a book written by Cyborg of the Justice League about his experiences after the accident that changed him from Victor Stone to Cyborg. She could certainly learn a thing or two about how someone might feel losing a limb as a medical student as well as learn a bit more about how to be a more effective super hero and possibly come up with some new ideas for helpful gadgets for when she and her friends were on patrol.

She had been so absorbed in her book, that she hadn't noticed that someone was leaning over to see what she was reading until she felt a hand lift her book up and jumped.

She scowled and opened her mouth to scold the person who had so rudely grasped at her book and frightened her, only for her scowl to slide off her face and for her to need to bite hard into her lip to keep from making a sound, a bit of her lip popping out from the gap between her front teeth.

**_Larie 'Wyvern' Kanker_**_ was staring at the cover of her book and was hovering over her while holding onto the handle over her!_

**_HOW HAD SHE NOT NOTICED?!_**

She looked back down at her book as she quickly struggled to compose herself, putting on a poker face and struggling not to pull her phone out of her bag and call 911.

No, she needed to stay calm and act like she normally did. Anna Marie has never met this man. She didn't know him from any other unknown male on this planet. She needed to make sure he believed that just as much as she wished it was true.

"Um…" she managed, her body trembling, "M-may I please have my book back?"

He looked up at her, as if processing her request before giving her a smile that spread slowly and send alarms blaring in her head before he purred, "Depends."

He lowered his head towards her as he lifted her book up a bit, "Ya mind tellin' me what's so interestin' 'bout this book?"

"Oh!" she said, feeling a bit more comfortable at the thought that he was curious about her book than wondering if he recognized her from last night, "Well, I'm in medical school and recently my teacher has discussed some of the difficulties amputees face and I wanted to learn more to see if there was anything I could do to help them adjust. I thought this would help me understand them, at the very least…"

His eyebrows rose at the information and he let go of her book as the bus began to slow to a stop.

Her stop.

'Thank you, Lord.' She thought to herself as she carefully moved to the side and…

Wait.

The spot next to her was empty. A lot of seats were empty.

_So why did he literally stand over her like that for who knows how long?_

Fear started to flood her system and she could feel herself babbling, "Well, it was nice chatting with you, but this is my stop, so…" she then quickly and without any more concern for acting like she always did anymore, practically flew out of the bus, calling out a good bye to the driver as she dashed into the library, silently praying that he didn't follow her inside.


	4. Act casual

Larie calmly strolled inside the library not too long after she did, his hands in his pockets and an impish smile on his face as he randomly found a shelf where he could simply pull a few books off and see the front desk from a spot at a nearby table, he plopped the books down beside him and pulled a notebook and pen out of his bookbag before carefully pulling out a laptop.

In his experience, when deciding to lay low some where for whatever reason, it was best to blend in with the crowd.

Gotta be at a coffee shop to hear the location of some fucker trying to take over your dad's turf? Grab a laptop, headphones, slap on a beanie and fake glasses and order coffee every once in a while at a corner table facing away from the window. BAM! Classic stranger typing a screen play at a coffee shop who ends up spending most of their time on youtube or Netflix.

Gotta search a club with some guys to find one sneaky little snitch to take out? Dress up like you're going clubbing with your bros, hit on some girls, drink something to get your breath to smell like booze and BAM! Classic random party dude.

Wanna follow some cute librarian who becomes a super sexy heroine at night and tried to bust your dad's party and get her number among other things? Grab a laptop, a notebook, a pen and slap some books on your table and leave one open near you. BAM! College student working on a paper.

It probably helped that he was actually doing a little 'homework' while he was here…

He made sure that his laptop would not be visible if anyone came down this way, that there was no window anyone could peek at what he was doing. He then opened it up to a government restricted website. How he'd managed to get access to it, he'd never tell, but once Jay got the names of the people living in that apartment complex, it wasn't hard to check all the names by putting them into the site to find ones that were on the Government's Meta-Human list.

Only three women popped up. Each of them listed with the same powers as the masked women who sang at their Dad's party.

He chuckled as he began scrolling through the page for 'Anna Marie Nolland', those stupid government fucks put EVERYTHING here! Her mutation, her IQ number, her birthday, her height, her weight, her address, her phone number, her work place, her medical information, names of her family members and their locations...

They made this all too easy for them!

He eagerly dove into the information, he'd only managed to confirm her powers and her address and see that she worked at the local library before he decided to see if he could check out a sexy librarian while doing his homework.

But really, even if the mystery babe from last night hadn't been here today, it was better here than dealing current bimbo who was trying to reel in the town's biggest crime boss and would spend her time walking around and whining every five seconds about where his dad was and what she wanted to do with him.

UGH! _Seriously_! None of the women who came here to meet his dad (except for Jay's Mom as far as he could remember, his own mother was a bit of a blur and Tee's had apparently left when they were still wearing diapers) had any kind of class, sense or brains whatsoever. Half the time when he needed to talk to him, there was some half dressed dame shoving herself at him and would start swearing at him for 'interrupting'. Which was nothing he _ever_ needed to see or know about and he often threatened them to get the fuck out of there before glaring darkly at his dad and flinging the info he wanted at his fat, fucking head before leaving to get drunk and hope he killed the brain cell that stored the newest disgusting image in his head.

But the one he met last night? The one he followed in here?

She was different.

Even when she had been singing the last part of that song with the other two, she had kept a reasonable distance from him, only touching the bottom of his chin with her finger (with him practically melting into a puddle at her touch). And when he went to her? She was nervous, blushing, bashful and stammering when he twirled a lock of her long, silky black hair around his finger and asked what was under her costume and if he could have a look. She said no, sadly, but she was always polite to him, despite her discomfort.

Example:

"Please, sir…"

"Wyvern."

"Wh-Wyvern. Please, um, y-you're invading my p-personal space a-and I'd very m-much appreciate it if you'd… um… stop? Please?"

He bit his lip and leaned his head back with a frustrated huff, why did she have to be so fucking cute?! And she was somehow cute, bashful and _sexy_ when biting her lip on the bus! With that little bit of her lip coming out from the gap in her teeth? Just… URGH!

He quickly wrote down the address for the hospital she worked at and the school she went to into his notebook… for later… Before deciding to get a better look at her 'mutation'.

According to the government, her hair is practically impossible to cut through and can be used almost like a bullet deflecting cloak. There were notes that her hair's ability to withstand fire or acid was unknown, but a part of him wondered why the fuck they'd want to cut it at all.

Hair that can shatter blades? Hair that bullets bounce off of? His jobs would be so much easier if all he had to do was grow his hair out to keep from getting stabbed or shot at! Not that he didn't like his own power, which was being a human flame thrower, but still, fire didn't stop bullets and blades. Also, he liked girls with long hair. One of his favorite fantasies was having some babe covered in nothing but her own hair and beckoning him close with a finger and smile.

He shook his head, he could enjoy that kind of fantasy later. Right now he needed to focus! He glanced at a note on the page, referring to her high IQ and how she was an avid inventor, there was a link to a folder full of her work that he happily clicked on and smiled broadly when images of amazing contraptions she'd made out of garbage as a child loaded up onto the laptop.

Sexy Dr. Librarian was just as skilled with her hands as she was smart and beautiful, lucky him.

He was about to go back into her file when he heard a steady squeaking sound coming from around the shelf…

And it seemed to be coming closer.

_Crap! _

He quickly closed his laptop and turned the notebook over to reveal a fresh page and picked his pen back up again before pushing the book up so it was standing up and blocking his face a bit and sliding his finger against a random line of text, not really reading it as he looked at the opening to his little spot via his peripheral vision.

Watching as Anna Marie Nolland dragged a wheeled stepladder and a cart filled with books into his aisle, panting a bit and murmuring to herself, 'curse my lack of physical strength…'

He watched fervently as she finally pulled both into the aisle and stopped for a moment to huff and puff before turning to the shelf by him and stopping when she noticed him.

"Um, m-my apologies for the disturbance." She said, looking both nervous and truly sorry for the noise the old cart made. He smiled behind his book and waved it off, watching her out of the corners of his eye as she moved the stepladder to the right spot, picked up a few books from the cart and began climbing the steps. The gears in his head spinning as he watched her climb to the right shelf and begin putting the books back in their assigned spaces, he moved his head out of the book and checked around to see if anyone else was around before smiling broadly.

He slipped out of his seat, closing the book with one hand and holding it as he glanced around, happy to see the cost was clear before hopping up the steps behind her.

It took less than a second for him to reach her, something she seemed to realize a bit too late as she turned to see his face breaths away from hers.

"Hi." He purred as she pressed herself gently against the bookshelf, probably not to knock anything over on either side of the shelf, and stammered back, "P-pa-patrons a-aren't all-allowed on th-these st-stepladders."

"Sorry." He said, not actually meaning it as he held up the book, "But I was wondering where I could go to put this back."

She seemed to relax a bit and gave him a small, sexy gap toothed smile, "Oh! Well, while I appreciate your desire to put that away yourself, you can put that book on the cart down there and I'll…" she froze and her face suddenly turned bright pink as she seemed to look at it, he glanced at the cover of it through his peripherals and read the words 'Karma Sutra' on it.

He glanced from the book to her and back, his smile widening.

"Yeah," he said, his tone light, "I figured it would be a bit awkward to have a girl put it back." He fibbed easily.

"A-ah… I see." She said, her face turning from pink to red as she carefully took the tome from him, her body shaking a bit, "Well, I-I can understand that. But it's st-still my ja-ja-job."

Hot damn, she somehow made even_ stuttering_ sexy as all hell!

"'Preciate it." He held out his hand, "Name's Larie." She blinked and seemed to quickly regain her composure.

"Oh, well, it's nice to meet you, Larie." She said, a hint of her earlier nervousness still there, but she managed to keep her tone mostly friendly and polite, her face fading back to it's normal color as she took his hand in a surprisingly firm grip and gave it a shake, "My name is Anna Marie, but you can call me Ann, if you'd like." She said, giving him a sweet smile that made him wonder how likely he'd be to get away with kidnapping her and dragging her back to his place without getting caught.

Not very, but the temptation was still making his pants feel a bit too tight for this little rendezvous. Best make his intentions clear quick before he did something in public that could get him arrested. That was all the cops would need to give him a hard time.

He pulled on her arm and pulled her close enough for him to give her a tasty smooch on the lips, happily sticking his tongue in her mouth to explore for a moment while she struggled to push him away, not realizing that he slipped another tracking device in her skirt pocket, allowing himself a light squeeze of her rear that made her yelp against his lips. When he finally did pull away, her expression was one of embarrassment and shock, her plump lips parted enough for him to see the cute little gap in her teeth as she panted.

He licked his lips, savoring the taste while he gave her a smile, "See ya around, Muffin." He murmured into her ear before quietly walking down the steps, packed his things away into his bag and loaded the other books he had snatched from the shelves onto the cart before walking away with a whistle and one last look at her trembling form. Before walking away, a blue haired girl passing him as he rounded the corner and crying out, "Brainy-Double-N-An-Girl! What is wrong? Have you fallen ill? Your face is redder than the growth on Nano's back!"

Larie stopped and made a face at the last statement before walking out the door and pulling out his phone, the GPS app showing that 'Sexy ' was still in the building.

"Sooner than you think." He chuckled before stuffing his phone back into his pocket and walking towards one of their gang's hideouts for him to finish up his homework without being distracted by long black hair, a sweet smile and a nice ass.


	5. Not in her happy place

An and Karen walked into the building, the two excited at the prospect of their first day filming. Karen was there as a make up artist, and although the idea of covering someone with fake blood, bruises, and more monster like makeovers wasn't her life's dream, the salon she was also working at didn't need as many make up artists for the next month, so she'd gotten a short term contract with the studio to help make ends meet.

An honestly felt a bit better being here on her first day with someone she knew, especially since those Kanker guys were after her and her friends. Even though the guy who talked to her seemed nice enough and Double-N had assured her that Jay Kanker, who was also called 'Golden Dragon' (which she still thought was SO COOL!), was the least dangerous of the brothers, being in charge of the many smaller, legitimate businesses the family owned.

So he was still one of the bad guys, even if he seemed like a nice guy.

She stopped for a moment and silently scolded herself, remembering that, while she should be concerned about the Kanker family, she shouldn't worry about it so much. She wasn't Jade Enforcer right now, right now, she was An. And An knew nothing about any Kankers or their shady dealings… Jade Enforcer didn't really knew much about them either, truth be told, but An was An right now, not Jade. She would just do her job, get some lunch, and head home to have a little party with her friends.

She could do that. She smiled again as she listened to the director about the scenes they would be filming today and then they began moving tables, chairs and other things around so they could set up their equipment properly.

Karen had gone with the actors and the make up and wardrobe people to the trailers they had parked in front of the building.

An had been moving several tables around when she nearly crashed into someone who came out from a door with the word 'Kitchen' on it, a 'What the?!' making her skid to a stop in her tracks.

She felt something barely touch the tables she was carrying and she took a few steps back and glanced around the table, "Are you okay?"

As soon as the words left her lips, she squinted at the blonde man before her through the lenses of her glasses. He was dressed in chef's attire, his hair pulled back into a ponytail and his mouth half open, revealing buck teeth as he seemed to relax that she had managed to stop in time, An noticing freckles spotting his cheeks from her spot.

He looked familiar to her, but from where…?

"Yeah, sorry about that…" The blonde man said, holding out a hand, as if to shake hers, "I'm…"

"Ah! Mr. Kanker!" the Director called, surprised by his presence as he walked over to them.

An felt a chill creep down her spine, then up again as the Director put an arm around his shoulder, "Everyone! This is the owner of the Restaurant we're filming today, say hello to Jay Kanker!"

The blonde man blushed, obviously a bit embarrassed as the whole room seemed to stare at him.

Kanker?

THIS PLACE HAD A BAD GUY IN IT?!

She bit at her lip, trying to think. Why would a bad guy be dressed up like a chef? Was he trying to poison them or something? No, no… Double-N said that the Golden Dragon was the least dangerous and was known as the nicest and friendliest of the brothers. He was in charge of the smaller legit businesses exactly for those reasons.

Whatever that meant.

An struggled to recall what else Double-N had said about him as he nervously cleared his throat and spoke, "Uh, the reason I came out here is because I forgot ta mention that the guy's room is out of order. So we'll have some plumbers in 'n out today fer that. We have a small bathroom in the kitchen that the guys can use, but it's a one person bathroom, so if more than one guy has to go, he'll hafta use the girl's room." He then flushed and waved his hands, "After knockin', of course!" he then rubbed the back of his neck, "'N sorry for not telling ya until now, one of my freezers just died on me today 'n I've had ta cancel reservations 'n clear it out with my staff 'n it just kinda slipped my mind…"

"That's understandable." The director said before he and a few others began calming Jay Kanker down, An still standing there with the tables, trying to keep her cool and not fling them at the man before rescuing everyone there and she felt some of her green gunk began to ooze from her skin and stick to the back of her shirt, her vest managing to keep it from view

She wasn't Jade Enforcer right now, she was An. An didn't attack random people, no, An was a good girl. Not that Jade Enforcer was bad either, but Jade Enforcer was a superhero, she had to fight bad guys, it was her job. An's job was to be a camera woman and not freak out when bad guys popped up from the kitchen door. No, An didn't know bad guys, how could she? An was An, she wasn't a super hero like Jade Enforcer, she didn't know who the bad guys were!

But he was right there! How was she supposed to act like she didn't know him when he was _right there_!

Luckily at that moment, Jay Kanker quickly fled back into the kitchen with a crimson face.

… Okay, _now_ An could act like she didn't know him! It was like Double-N had said to her once 'Out of sight, out of...' Mustard? An tilted her head for a moment before deciding that mustard sounded right before Jay Kanker's presence here slipped her mind and she happily did her work without any problems.

They managed to do a couple of nice scenes that they all really seemed to like, the highlight of the morning being when she was sat in between a group of the actors at a table for one scene, while one of the actresses had a hard time calming down and remembering her lines. After managing to ask everyone's orders, An's stomach howled and she pointed to the last one who had 'ordered' and said, "I'll have what he's having!" and made all of them crack up and the actress who'd had a hard time did much better after the laugh.

After they filmed the scene a second time, they all decided that lunch was in order.

That's when Jay Kanker came back out with a tray of food and An remembered that he was the bad guy again. She looked at the food anxiously as her stomach roared again, it looked and smelled so good…

She shook her head, she couldn't be sure it wasn't a trap for her, but at the same time, she was really hungry…

She suddenly remembered that Double-N had made a lunch for her today and smiled as she explained that she'd be right back and gathered it from the An's van/superhero car. They hadn't taken it out yesterday in Superhero mode, which was good, since a car chase the night of a big football game could be unsafe and they wouldn't have been able to get to the party on time in it because of all the traffic, so they had used Double-N's gadgets and her goop to help run along the rooftops to get there and back.

She pulled the bagged lunch out and when she turned around, she was surprised to see Jay Kanker right behind her. She staggered back against the van clutching her lunch close to her chest and felt more of her goop begin to seep from her skin and tried not to panic at his sudden appearance behind her and accidently launch him back with a wave of her goop and trap him in it or fling the hardened goop crystals at him.

"Uh, I was gonna ask if you were allergic to somethin' I made when I saw you looked uneasy when I brought the food but ya left 'fore I could…" He said sheepishly, as to explain why he was _right behind An_.

An perked up, pleased that he had just helped her with an excuse as to why she suddenly left, "An is allergic to a lot of things!" She confirmed. "Eels, butterscotch, bunnies…" she listed before pausing and pulling a long list out of her back pocket, "Snapping turtles…" she read, her eyes narrowing as she looked down the page.

"Uh, is that a list of everythin' yer allergic to?" He asked, a bit shocked.

An quickly realized that showing a bad guy a list of things that could stop her wasn't a good idea before she quickly shoved it back into her pocket, "Maybe…" she said, unable to look him in the eye.

"Sorry, should have checked if anyone had any allergies first." He said, sounding truly sorry.

An suddenly felt bad for him, maybe he had just made food for them to be nice and she had just walked out without even saying thank you!

"It's okay," she said, "But thank you for making everyone lunch, it was really nice of you!"

He blushed a bit and began fiddling with his fingers, "Well, you guys are shootin' here fer today 'n I never told you about the bathroom situation like I should've, so I figured that makin' some lunch with the stuff that was still good would make up fer it…"

"The bathroom isn't your fault though." An pointed out before giving him a pat on the shoulder, "An is sorry for just walking out without saying anything, but An didn't want to make you feel bad after you did something nice." An also left due to a slight fear of poison, but she wasn't going to say that because it was mean and he seemed to be really upset about this.

He gave her a soft smile, "Thanks, uh, An was it?"

She froze. She probably wasn't supposed to give him her real name, but, but An hadn't meant to! She felt more of her goop start to leak from her pores like sweat.

"An!" Karen called from behind them both, making them both jump before looking at her, "There you are!" She held up her phone, "I just got off the phone with Double-Nerd, you're not allergic to any of it."

Jay seemed to relax and smiled, "Looks like we don't have anythin' ta worry about then."

"Yeah." She squeaked as Karen motioned for them both to get back inside and she felt more goop begin to trickle out of her pores and her back felt stiff and she could feel something cracking on her back as they walked.

Uh oh…

_Not good._

Once inside with Jay Kanker smiling and waving at her before going back into the kitchen, she dashed into the bathroom and quickly removed her vest and shirt, biting her lip when she saw the green crystals stuck to the inside of her shirt and that they had poked holes in it, she pulled at her jeans and frowned when she saw more goop on her legs and on her lucky bunny underwear.

She could get the stuff off of her legs later, as her jeans were quite good at handling any sharp crystals that formed on her skin (although it would hurt a bit if it started poking her too much), her shirt was a more pressing matter with the holes and the slime showing through as it began to harden.

Karen slipped through the door and saw the dilemma, "Shit!" she hissed as she ran over to inspect the damage.

Karen knew about An's powers, she knew about Double-N and Anny's too. She'd grown up with them after all, so of course she knew about them and the damage An's in particular did to her clothes when she was nervous or just really sweaty.

"What happened?" she whispered.

"…" An bit her lip, technically what she, Anny and Double-N did while running around as the Crystal Crusaders was illegal, as they were not in connection with the Justice League or any other law enforcement group. She and her friends had applied and even had tryouts and interviews, but they didn't make the cut.

Karen and her roommates, friends and neighbors, Jenny and Rachel, knew about her powers and their failed try outs with the Justice League and they still went out as superheroes anyway, but they had not been brought up to speed on their attempt to take down the Serpent King by themselves…

Karen narrowed her eyes, then sighed, obviously annoyed, "Fine, I get it, not here. But you dorks owe me, Rachel and Jenny an explanation when we get home!"

An quickly nodded in agreement, grateful that she could explain when they weren't in the Golden Dragon's den as she ordered for An to give her the keys for the spare clothes they both knew Double-N left in there, just in case. An handed them to her without fuss and thanked her for her help.

"Whatever." Karen said, her cheeks pink at the gratitude as she slipped out of the bathroom, leaving the hamster in An's head to start spinning the wheel to figure out what she should do next.

She should keep pretending that she doesn't know Jay Kanker and that he's the Golden Dragon, she knew that much, but they were supposed to shoot here for a few days. As much as she loved movies, it didn't mean she was the greatest actress, she wasn't sure how long she could keep this up…

Maybe he'd go somewhere else in the next few days, the freezer thing and the bathroom and he was wearing a chef outfit, maybe he wouldn't show up for the rest of the days here if there weren't a lot of people to feed?

She perked up as she looked at herself in the mirror, yeah! Maybe that would happen and she could really pretend that she really didn't know him and he wouldn't know that she and her friends had been at his dad's party!

She looked back down at her shirt and frowned, speaking of her friends, Double-N would be mad if she had to de-crystalize her shirt for her again. She turned on the hot water and held her vest between her knees as she began scrubbing at the green goop that had crystallized on the cloth.

She was so busy trying to get the green crystals out, that she hadn't been paying attention to the sound of someone knocking before the door opened.

She turned, assuming it was Karen and instead saw **_Jay Kanker just inside the doorway with flushed cheeks and a trickle of blood coming through his fingers that covered the lower half of his face._**

'I'm not in my happy place!' An thought as panic began to flood through her veins.


	6. In his happy place

He had just gone in because he needed to clean up a bloody nose after one of his staff accidently hit him in the face with the broken freezer door. Normally he either would have dodged or turned his nose to steel for a moment, but he hadn't been paying much attention due to all the things that needed to be done…

And then the bathroom in the back was occupied and he'd knocked…

But as the door to the lady's room shut behind him, he stared in absolute silence as he tried to burn the image of the woman of his dreams standing by the sink, her shirt soaking under the sink, standing there in a bra covered in little bunnies.

"I'm so sorry!" He blurted before flying out of the door, his heart jack-hammering against his ribs, and more blood trickling from his nose into his hand.

Oh, right, he still needed to clean up. He quickly decided to try the back bathroom again and headed back towards the kitchen, spotting another red head dashing into the bathroom with a bag as he slipped back into the kitchen.

"Thought you were going to use the ladies room?" One of his chefs said.

"Occupied." He replied as he passed.

"Back bathroom is free, but Alex was just in there." His Sous Chef warned.

"My nose is bleedin', smells ain' somethin' I'm worried 'bout right now." He assured her as he passed them. The door was open and he leaned his head over the sink and turned on the water, his mind reeling as he rinsed off his hand and watched blood drip into the sink, grateful that his nose wasn't broken.

Yeah, 'An Hudson' was _definitely _'Jade Enforcer'. He didn't need the info he and Larie gathered from the list of renters and the social media accounts the girls had to be sure of that. Although at the time, they were good ways to get information to confirm their identities… and he had no idea she'd be working with the film crew that would be coming today or he would have tried to just talk to her instead invading their privacy…

Anyways, it was obvious to anyone with eyes and ears that this girl was Jade Enforcer;

She had the same smile as the girl from the party. She had the same eyes, same voice, she was the same height. She had the same hairstyle and hair color, and she was very strong. Her lifting their heavy tables with ease like she had proved that easily enough.

And finally, the clincher; _the tiny green crystals that were on the bathroom floor of the bathroom and the goop on her back._

The same stuff Jade Enforcer used to fight with last night.

Of course he'd go back and collect some samples for Larie later so they could compare them to the others they had from last night to make sure, but he knew it was her.

Part of him was proud that he'd noticed the crystals and goop while she had been standing there shirtless, but at the same time… the bra had some goop on it too so…

Yeah, he was still kinda a perv for staring.

'Least I didn't take off her shirt or somethin' like that. I just walked in thinkin' no one was there.' He reminded himself as he watched his nose finally stop bleeding and began washing his hands and face. When he was done, he saw that he'd gotten a bit of blood on his chef's coat.

He groaned, but he'd gotten blood on it before while preparing meat and… other things… As his powers allowed him to turn parts of his body into steel and sharpen like a sword and he'd had to cut more than one person who had invaded the base while his father and brothers were out…

But as for the small bloody problem at hand, a bit of scrubbing, some pre-stain remover and ammonia and it'd be clean as a whistle again. And it wasn't like he'd gotten so much blood on his clothes that he'd have to burn them, like they'd had too when they were just dripping with the stuff, but he could've avoided needing to do so much work on it if he'd worn his apron like he was supposed to, but he'd just gotten that cleaned up too!

He shook his head as he made his way back to the kitchen, where his staff was still going through their food stock. They'd used the food that they found was still good that morning to make lunch for the film crew, since even if it was good now, plenty of it wouldn't be good for long so they figured they should cook it as not to let any of it go to waste.

The thought of the lunch they'd made for the crew made him think about the beauty in the bathroom again. And how she'd felt as if she needed to sneak out to spare his feelings just in case one of her many allergens were in the food.

But despite all that…

"It was nice of you." She had said, smiling warmly at him.

Nice.

People had called him that before, but never really as a compliment. Usually it was a way to make fun of him for not wanting to be as violent as Larie could get or be as ruthless as Tee could be or just flat out implying that he was stupid.

And usually it came from the women that came around in hopes for his Dad to take them as his girlfriend…

No, not a girlfriend…

More like eye candy that hung off his arm.

But when An had said it, well, it made him feel good. It made him feel like he wasn't being called a sap or a softie, like he wasn't a wimp or worthless.

He was _nice_.

Like a person who does good things because they want to. They want to help others and treat people with warmth and kindness.

A superhero told him, a high-ranking member of a mafia family, that he was nice. And she had meant it as an honest compliment.

He felt his cheeks burn a bit, the women that hung around his dad were always making fun of him, or just being mean in general, they often laughed if they heard someone got hurt or threatened people over their phones. He never liked being around them and getting insulted when he was doing his work or just trying to relax after a long day. His brothers were often quick to get them to leave, giving their dad a hard time, and then leaving themselves, but often Jay just left without doing anything like that, usually asking a thug to instead escort the woman out and make sure she didn't come back instead.

The thugs were often happy to do so.

But it was starting to get to the point where he wondered if any women he'd met (except for the ones working for him here, for obvious reasons, and his mother) were not mean and rude like the ones that came around for his dad.

Then last night happened, even though An and the masked ladies with her had probably been there to take his Dad down, she had still been friendly enough. She introduced herself as 'Jade Enforcer' and said it was nice to meet him and that his Alias name was 'So cool!'

She did her best to keep the guys they had working for them from getting hurt and looked upset when they got hurt anyway. Her friend in red did too, but she didn't shout out apologies to those who were hurt, even though it _had_ been their guys' faults for trying to fire their guns after she clogged them with those pretty green crystals of hers (and honestly, Tee and Larie shouted at the guys who got hurt using gunked up guns for being stupid later).

A pretty girl who made pretty crystals and who cared about the people around her, even if they were out to hurt her…

An was probably short for 'Angel'.

He finally made it back to the kitchen, stopping himself from nearly getting hit in the face again with the door again and noticing his face was flushed via his warped reflection in the metal door handle.

He felt his face grow redder from embarrassment as he struggled to regain any kind of composure he had before the door closed again.

The door closed and he began walking back towards the office, only to find his manager and head chef there, "Hey boss, we've taken care of the food in storage and I already made a call to our suppliers to let them know the situation while the repairs are going on." The manager told him.

"I thought it might be good to have a meeting in the kitchen while the repairs are happening, maybe change up the menu a bit, try a few new things." The chef piped in.

Jay smiled and nodded, "Sounds good, you all can head home early for the day, I'm going to stay back and see what the plumber and the repair guy say."

"You sure Boss?" The manager said.

"Yeah, I'll close up after those guys and the film crew leave." He said, "You all take the rest of the day for yourselves, okay?"

The two seemed a bit uncertain, but finally agreed after saying they would finish cleaning up the kitchen first and left the office.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair.

**_What a day._**

Spend the wee hours of the morning trying to find the cute superhero you flirted with at your Dad's party trying to learn more about her, freezer breaks, plumbing goes haywire and the cute superhero he'd been trying to find last night turns out to be part of the film crew that is going to be filming here all week...

And as much as he'd love to keep an eye on her, he could use a nap.

He felt his eyes droop, yeah, a nap sounded pretty good right about now, but he still needed to call the companies they ordered supplies from for lists of new ingredients so they could use for a new menu.

He needed to sign for either new parts or a new freezer all together, make sure the men's room were clean after the plumber was finished, get those crystal samples from the women's room, contact all his chefs to be here tomorrow for a menu change meeting as well as help his managers with contacting wait staff and such.

Then there was making sure his hourly employees would be compensated so they could keep the lights on at their homes and… and…

His eyes finally closed and he felt his body finally start to succumb to exhaustion…

But before he could drift off to sleep, there was a knock on the door.

He immediately got to his feet. It could be the repair guy, or the plumber, or the director or one of his staff or…

He opened the door and was shocked to see a red haired woman standing there outside his door with An 'Jade Enforcer' Hudson curled up behind her as she peaked over her shoulder, looking uncomfortable and a bit embarrassed.

A flash of her standing by the sink in her bunny bra while holding her shirt flashed through his mind and he felt his face burn before he noticed that her eyes looked a little red and puffy.

Had she cried? Oh jeez, he didn't mean to make her cry!

"Uh…" He began, trying to think of

"Hi, I'm Karen." The other red head said before thumbing back towards An, "And this is An. She wanted to see if you were okay because she saw you bleeding earlier, but for some reason, she didn't want to check on you alone." The red head said in a flat tone, glancing back at the heroine behind her with an annoyed look.

"Um, I'm fine, thanks." He said, a bit out of sorts at the situation here, "And I'm sorry about before, I knocked, but you must not have heard me…"

The woman's eyes widened as she quickly turned to look at him, then the now blushing superhero behind her and back again before groaning, "Well, that explains why you threw your wet shirt at me when I came in…"

"Sorry!" He cried, "I should have knocked louder and I shouldn't made something that would make you spill stuff and have to wash your shirt!"

The two women's eyes widened before Karen blurted out, "An eats like a dog! Always makes a mess, don't worry about it!"

An nodded vigorously in agreement as she continued onto say that, "Well then, she knows you're okay and you said you're sorry. Why don't we just pretend that what happened never happened?"

Jay flushed and nodded in agreement, his lips pulled into a tight line to keep himself from saying anything stupid. Like how he'd gladly pretend he didn't see anything if the red head in the back would let him take her out to dinner as an apology, and maybe asking for a list of her allergies so he could make her something that she wasn't allergic to. If that didn't make him seem like a creep after he'd basically seen her topless…

"Okay, good." Karen said, the doorway filled with awkward tension, "So, we'll leave you to your work…" She said as she backed into An and then hissed at her to move as well, "Bye!" She said before whirling around and pushing An back towards the dining area.

"Uh, wait!" He said, the two women turning to look at him and make him flush, "Uh…" Think Jay think! Uh, something to stop stains-

Then it hit him, "Be right back!" he said, dashing into his office and grabbing his apron, which was still very clean from earlier, and brought it out and held it out to the females before him, "Here, so you don't have to worry about getting your clothes dirty!" He offered.

Karen looked at her fellow red head and An stared at it, surprised, "Isn't that yours?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I have a few of these and I'd rather you not have to go through something like this again, especially since I don't know when the plumbing in the men's room will be fixed yet!"

She seemed to take in his words for a moment, then quietly walked towards him and took it, "Thank you." She said before her friend repeated her words and gently tugged her back towards the door. An looked back for a moment and gave him a small smile and held up the apron before they passed through the door into the dining area.

He felt his cheeks warm and quickly retreated into his office, his tiredness suddenly gone as he sat back down in his chair, glad that he'd hadn't worn his apron today. He wondered if she'd want to keep it or if he could use it as an excuse later to see her…

He smiled broadly at the thought of being able to spend more time with an Angel.


	7. Batman

Bruce Wayne stared at the screen in front of him, his eyes narrowed.

He had virtual eyes on every data base of Meta Humans in the world, and an agent who he knew was on holiday had accessed a restricted government data base a little while ago. The agent, according to the log history, had accessed information on three young women and downloaded everything about them before logging out.

The three females in question were Anny McGee, Anna Marie Nolland and Anita Hudson.

He sighed and rubbed at his temples. He was well aware that those three girls had been keeping tabs on the Serpent King's movements ever since they left the Hallowed Halls of the Justice League a few short months ago, but he had hoped that they would simply do recon until they had enough evidence to present to them as an almost bribe to be let in for the take down at the very least.

He never expected to get a police report from Peach Creek City Police about three colorfully dressed girls fleeing what witnesses described as 'constant gun fire' this morning. But now that he saw that someone was looking into those three girls specifically, he felt nothing but dread.

"You seem troubled, Master Bruce." His loyal butler and friend called from behind him, "Does it have anything to do with Miss Nolland's, I mean, Ruby Spider's look into the Wyvern's criminal record this morning?"

He leaned back in his chair and turned to look at Alfred and indicated the screen, "They've been made."

The older man's expression didn't change, "By the police?" he asked, "Or the Serpent King?"

"No, it was most likely the Wyvern or his brothers." He said, turning back to the screen and tapping at his keyboard, "I'm contacting Oracle to pull up data from security cameras around Peach Creek City to see if they've made contact with any of those girls yet. If they're in danger, I'll call Diana and Dinah and we'll have one stay with each one of us..."

"I believe Metropolis is closer to Peach Creek City, Would it not be easier to have Superman bring them here instead so we can talk to them in person, or is he still afraid of Miss Hudson-er, Jade Enforcer's green goop?"

"He has the right to be afraid." Bruce said as he got up and went to his small lab, where a small sample container held hardened crystals from the red haired wannabe hero, "Ruby Spider told us in her interview that, while she hadn't been able to confirm it for certain, she was able to find that the components in Jade Enforcer's slime were very similar to the ones found in Kryptonite and that there was a potential for her friend to possibly make it by accident, but she said it was highly unlikely."

"And?"

"While I didn't have a lot to use, I can concur with her analysis. If manipulated while in liquid form before it hardens, it could be turned into Kryptonite. But the slime hardens in very little time and it would be hard to balance the components before it could crystallize. You'd either need a lot of it and hope you could get a small piece you could use, or to be as fast as Flash while lining the chemicals up just right for it to harden as Kryptonite."

"I don't recall that being in the government report about Jade Enforcer's powers…" Alfred said with a frown.

"That report was written around the time Tiffany McGee joined the Viper Gang and started trying to recruit other people to join in too." Bruce told him as he picked up the sample container and moving it so he could see the little green crystals inside twinkled in the dim light, "So it's not hard to believe that her little sister would know the dangers her friend and her family would face if it came to light that she was a walking, talking possible Kryptonite factory. So, when the government agents tried to get samples of a young Jade Enforcers's slime and she ran away from them in fear of being taken away to be tested on, that same sister suggested that she and Ruby Spider would take samples of the slime for them. It didn't hurt when they managed to get Ruby Spider's father to agree take it to the laboratory of Peach Pitt University for them to test on it."

"Ah," He said, "Her father is the President of Peach Pitt University, if I recall correctly."

"Exactly." He confirmed, "It seemed like a good idea to the agents there as President Nolland could easily take it into work with him where they had state of the art equipment where they could find out what was in her slime. However, he was away at a conference at the time and his wife left for work very early and came home very late, so it meant they had about a week to either make a substitute slime or to find a way for to make sure the machines didn't report all the components of it."

"… Very clever." Alfred said simply, "But I can only guess that all the cleverness in the world can't help them now…"

"Maybe not." A familiar voice said as Barbara Gordon's face lit up the massive screen of the Batcave, "But from what I've seen from these recordings, it seems as though the Serpent King's sons are interested in them for more _personal_ reasons."

"Personal?" Bruce repeated.

Barbara's face lit up with a grin before a video popped up in a corner, Anny McGee was dashing down a sidewalk with a car driving alongside her.

"Come on, babyyyy!" Tee 'Basilisk' Kanker was calling out from the driver side window, "At least tell me your name!"

"GET LOST!" she shouted back as she picked up speed, the red haired son of the mob boss continued riding along, shamelessly hitting on her. Bruce felt his jaw drop in shock.

Admittedly as the World's Greatest Detective, he had not seen this coming.

"He followed her for a little over a mile before he finally drove off." Oracle informed them with chuckle.

"Well, I can honestly say I have no idea if this makes things better or worse for those women." Alfred deadpanned.

"Worse." Bruce sighed, "Way worse."


	8. Make him regret it

Anny stiffened as she read her texts in the break room of the coffee shop she worked at when she wasn't in business school or patrolling the streets.

Double-N sent her a text earlier while she was busy making coffee for a crowd of people about Larie 'Wvyern' Kanker being on her bus this morning and following her into the library she worked at. He apparently trapped her on the top of a step ladder, kissed her and grabbed her butt before leaving. Apparently Rachel, who had been there to do some homework for her Intro to Children's Education Class, had to help her down from the ladder and helped her get to the break room. That's when they found the tracking device the sonuvabitch slipped into her back pocket. After explaining what it was, Rachel said she had to head to the docks to pick up a fish order and that she'd drop it in the water for her, but that the three of them would have a lot of explaining to do later.

And now she was looking at a new text from Karen, who told her that An had been freaking out around this blonde guy who owned the restaurant they were filming in today. She'd gotten so worked up when the owner was talking to her outside while getting her lunch from the van that she started sweating goop and Karen had to fish the spare clothes Double-N kept in the van for her while leaving her alone in the bathroom to wash up.

Then while she was gone, An was apparently seen shirtless by the same blonde who owned the place and while he'd left before Karen returned, she'd gotten a face full of sweaty, spiky crystal covered An shirt for her troubles.

When Anny asked 'WHY THE FUCK WAS A GUY GOING INTO THE GIRLS' BATHROOM WITHOUT ANYONE STOPPING HIM?!' Karen explained that the restaurant had plumbing problem in the men's room that popped up that they didn't know about until a little before they arrived due to a freezer dying on them.

The owner told them that the guys could use one in the back, but it was a single stall bathroom back there, so if more than one guy had to go, then they'd have to go to the lady's room, after knocking first.

Karen then sent, 'I dunno what you dorks did for An to be this nervous around someone or why she seems to know him, but you all are telling me tonight!'

Anny took this information in and recalled the name of the restaurant as she had helped An put in the GPS info into the Van earlier that day and pulled up the webpage she'd looked at earlier this morning and checked google for info on this owner…

When the information loaded up, she wanted to scream.

The place was owned by Jay fucking 'Gold Dragon' Kanker.

SERIOUSLY?! UGH AS IF THE FUCKING BASILISK HITTING ON HER THIS MORNING WASN'T BAD ENOUGH!

She leaned back in her chair and bit back a stream of swears as she tightened her grip on her phone.

What were they gonna do? She didn't think those guys would pop up the next morning like this after what happened last night. After all that gun fire and shit that went down, she would have thought those assholes would have laid low for a while and that would give them time to regroup.

But of course not.

Why would any of those bastards give her or her friends a break?

Why should they have time to set up defenses around their apartment building or update their supersuits or have Double-N come up with new devices to keep themselves safe or anything like that?

… URGH! SITTING AROUND DOING NOTHING WASN'T GOING TO HELP!

Anny stopped slouching and went back to her text messages and sent a message to Jamie asking if she could update their supersuits.

She asked for fireproofing for Double-N because, despite her many tiny pellets that expanded into a fire fighting foam that she had on hand (just in case) she had caught a living inferno's eye, so there was a chance that all those pellets wouldn't be enough to keep her from being burnt to a crisp. She and An would need blade proofing as a precaution against the Golden Dragon, even though Double-N said he was far less violent than his brothers, she wasn't taking any chances with these assholes. An wouldn't need fireproofing as her goop could easily put that stuff out and Anny kept some of those fire fighting pellets on her too and she didn't have the Wyvern after her, so that would be good enough for now. Double-N wouldn't need blade proofing as her hair could do that already, so there was no point in adding it.

Okay, so that took care of the Wyvern and the Golden Dragon… but the Basilisk's power would be tricky to beat, as they'd heard that it was some sort of hypnosis or mind control or something. Anny shivered a bit, if that curly haired fuck boy really wanted to, he could have made her dance in the palm of his hand… or worse.

She shook her head, silently telling the thought to take a hike. Double-N would probably find a way to beat it, after all, they'd played with hypnosis before and she had a pretty good understanding of it. If it was mind control it might take a bit more time to figure out how to beat it, but once they did, they could get Jamie on it.

And while it might be a good idea to have all of the things they needed to cover figured out before ordering improved supersuits, Anny wanted to cover as many bases as they could as fast as they could. Better to be safe than skewered or scorched.

That, and she remembered how it had taken a while for Jamie to find a fabric that was durable and could still allow An's goop to flow out of it freely so there wouldn't be pointy crystals stuck in the fabric, stabbing her repeatedly as she moved. To make a material that was stab proof, durable and could let An's goop come out without drying between the fibers could take some time, so it was probably for the best that she requested that as soon as she could.

She also told her to also make some regular and formal clothes made of the same materials, just in case those guys tracked them to more places they frequented or while they were out for a night of fun and/or retcon at a fancy party or something and to give her the price so they could pay her for the work as soon as she knew how much it would cost.

Jamie sent back a thumbs up and wrote back her now signature phrase whenever it came to their superhero costumes 'But no capes.'

Anny smiled at that for a moment, remembering that, after Jamie offered to make them superhero costumes for their try out at the Justice League, An had offered her comics and pictures she'd drawn of the Justice League's heroes for references.

After going through everything and Jamie had shown them her final designs, she and An had gotten into an argument about the lack of capes on their costumes.

After separating them and having Sockhead convince them to both make their cases, the two wiser Ans declared that Jamie's points about all the cape related accidents and how it would be safer for them to go without was best.

An still pouted that she didn't have a cool cape like Superman for a little while…

The thought of the wellknown and regarded hero made Anny's smile shift into a toothy snarl.

When she and her friends tried out for the Justice League, they'd gone through several tests to see how well they worked together as a team and to show what they were made of. And they'd done really well as far as they could tell at the time.

Sure Superman didn't want An near him because she could maybe sort of potentially make his fatal weakness and they all messed up once or twice with one or both of the others having to help, but their teamwork was solid and individually they held their own.

She'd had a good feeling when Superman asked to talk with her privately for a moment while her friends chatted with other members of the Justice League, with An asking everyone around for autographs, even the janitor, and Double-N asking Cyborg about whatever high tech nerd thing they had been tested in, curious about how it worked.

He led her into an empty room and then he told her she was in if she wanted to be, even offered her a chance to work under one of her personal heroes, Black Canary.

But when she went to run out and tell her friends that they were in, Superman stopped her.

"I'm only offering this to you, not them." He'd said.

Anny stopped, "What?" she'd managed through the shock.

"The three of you make a good team," He told her, "But the League needs people who can work well on a team as well as on their own and you're the only one who can pull her own weight."

"Excuse you?!" she snapped.

He then, in a roundabout way that pissed her off, told her that An was basically too stupid and trusting to be a hero and how anyone could trick her to either kill her or use her as bait or brainwash her or use her as an endless fountain of possible Kryptonite to be sold on the black market, blah blah blah.

And then he went on about how Double-N was a powerless weakling and how without her gadgets, it would only take one punch to take her out and that the Justice League's job was to help protect and save others and that her friend couldn't do that if she couldn't do that for herself, blah blah blah.

Anny stood there, grinding her teeth, clenching her fists so hard her nails cut into her gloves and hands, making them eventually start to bleed under the fabric where Superman could only see if he used his x-ray vision. It was taking everything she had while he talked shit about her friends to not send him flying into the nearest wall. She knew attacking the most well-known and respected super hero in the world was a bad idea…

**But he had the gall to insult her best friends in front of her.**

Him, a person who didn't know them or care about them.

That**_ asshole_** didn't know her friends, who, despite not wanting to hurt anyone, promised Anny that they'd all become superheroes together. Her friends, who when her sister left to become a criminal after trying so hard to be a hero, comforted her while she cried at her sister's open doorway and empty room for so long. Her friends, who constantly got into trouble with her as kids while trying to earn money for candy for crying out loud!

This guy was standing over her and talking all this shit… This guy who was born with practically every superpower and had the world practically worship him was talking shit about two of the nicest, most hardworking people she knew?

How the fuck did this guy become the golden boy of the Justice League?!

The door behind her opened and Wonder Woman and Batman walked in, saw her and then glared at Superman.

"We said we'd get all of the available founder's opinions before we'd tell them the results." Wonder Woman said, her tone furious as she stepped towards him, "What did you say to her?"

Superman looked at her, his posture rigid, "I told her the truth. Those two can't be heroes. They don't have what it takes-"

And at that moment, no matter what else he was going to say, Anny decided that she'd had more than enough. She'd stood here and listened to him go on and on and on. She'd let him talk more shit about her friends than she'd ever allowed anyone else to before due to shock that he'd have the guts to insult two people who meant so much to her like that and his golden boy status.

But now?

_Now Anny wasn't holding back for shit_.

"**_FUCK YOU_**!" and sent him into the air, where he started floating and staring at her in shock.

"**_WHEN WE CAME HERE, WE TOLD YOU WE WERE A PACKAGE DEAL_**," Anny shouted, her voice launching him backwards again only for him to fly against her voice, "**_YOU GET ALL OF US OR NONE OF US! AND AFTER THAT YOU STILL HAVE THE BALLS TO ASK ME TO GO SOLO AND THEN INSULT MY BEST FRIENDS TO MY FACE?! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE THE 'MAN OF STEEL', IF YOU EVER INSULT MY FRIENDS EVER AGAIN, I'LL KNOCK YOUR FUCKING TEETH OUT!_**"

Superman continued to soar through her words until she finished her threat and then turned around to stomp out and instead watched as Superman then flew straight into the wall above the doorway with a loud smack.

Wonder Woman and Batman hopped out of the way and watched as he fell to the ground, the two looking surprisingly pleased with Anny's actions before Anny stepped around him and stomped back down the hall to find her friends again.

When she did, they were smiling and chatting with the Green Lanterns and the Flash, what they were talking about was hard to hear, but her anger could have been blocking it out.

She was _so_. **_Angry_**.

"Royal Diamond?" Double-N called, "Are you alright?"

Anny sucked in a breath, and considered telling her friends what just happened or lying and saying that they just didn't make the cut. She looked at them, and saw the joy and hope start to leak from their expressions at the sight of her own.

"We didn't make it." she said, her voice strained as she felt her eyes start to water, "Come on, let's go home."

Her friends seemed to hesitate for a moment, then Double-N politely excused them and they followed her out of the Hall of Justice and to the van.

Anny had drove in silence, her friends not talking either, seeming to wait for her to tell them why they didn't make it.

But Anny never did.

And she never planned to.

That stupid space alien thought he could dictate who could and who couldn't be a hero? The guy who basically built his superhero career on punching bad guys and dropping them at police stations and saving just ONE reporter from a constant barrage of danger that she kept putting herself into?!

The FUCK she'd let _that_ guy tell her that her friends weren't hero material! She'd show him! She'd show everyone what she and her friends could do!

Anny stopped for a moment, her sister had said something similar after she had failed her tryouts too…

She was thankfully jolted from that line of thought by her timer going off.

Her break was over, she needed to get back to work.

She crumpled her empty lunch bag and tossed it into the trash before putting her apron on and turning out of the break room and walking through a hallway and out a door to get to her station behind the counter and clocked back on one of the registers. Her co-worker, Ashe, giving her a concerned look as she took her spot by the espresso machine.

"You okay?" She asked, "Cause you look ready to punch someone in the face and I don't want to get in a fist fight before my date tonight."

"Oh, please, Jenny told me that your boyfriend thinks it's hot that you get into fights." Anny snorted, pushing a smile on her face as she turned around to face her, one hand on her hip. When that comment didn't change the expression on her co-worker's face, she sighed, "I just remembered something annoying that happened this morning, that's all." She said, half fibbing, half not.

"What happened this morning?" A familiar voice called. The two turned to see Jenny with her laptop bag over her shoulder.

"Hey Jenny!" Ashe greeted cheerfully.

"Hey Melonhead, thought you had classes today, what are you doing here?" Anny asked.

"Oh, one of my professors cancelled at the last minute and I figured I'd stop in to get a chai latte with soy and get some homework done."

"You mean, chat with us so we wouldn't be bored while waiting for people to get out of class and grab more caffeine?" Ashe asked impishly.

"Oh lay off." Anny said as she began making the chai latte, "Like your boyfriend doesn't do the same thing when his classes are cancelled."

"Yeah, and for me, watching you flirt with my cousin is gross." Jenny commented.

"It's not like we do the fun stuff in front of you two." Ashe teased.

"UGH!" Jenny cried, covering her ears, "STOP!"

Anny chuckled as she pulled the soy milk from the fridge under the counter, knowing that Ashe thinking about the more intimate parts of her relationship was probably more than Jenny every needed to know about her and her cousin.

Jenny was the only one in their cul-de-sac, outside her, An and their siblings (as Double-N's hair was apparently more of a mutation than a power) who had super powers. Her powers apparently were more of the psychic nature than physical like her and An's.

Apparently all those years of her talking to 'Plankette' actually was pretty dangerous as the hunk of wood had actually been possessed by an evil psychic years ago and had been trying to manipulate Jenny ever since she'd found her. Jenny never told them exactly what she was trying to get her to do, but Plankette had been taken away after a psychic (who was supposed to check on them all after the incident with Tiffany) had found what Plankette really was and had taken her away. The psychic took Jenny aside to 'talk' but never actually moved his mouth, to all of their frustration and concern as they all did their best to eavesdrop.

It was only after An had suggested that the psychic was talking to Jenny through her mind did this not talking become less stupid and more worrisome… after the shock of the brilliant suggestion from An sunk in. But when they asked Jenny why Plankette had to leave, Jenny never said why, she only said it was for the best and didn't go outside as much, curling up in a ball in her room and crying.

After that, the Ans _and_ Jenny were more included in the other kids' games and activities and were treated better. And eventually Jenny seemed to get better.

Anny made her drink and even added a dash of cinnamon, just like she liked it, "Here ya go." She said, handing it over.

"Thanks." She said, pulling out her wallet to pay.

"Oh, Jenny! I was just about to call you!" A voice called from behind them, they all turned to see their boss, Toni, walk out from the back with a hemp woven bag filled with coffee beans, "I got a call from Joyce today, her son is better now so she can do her shift tonight, so you don't need to cover for her." She said, then put the bag down on the ground and opened a cabinet under the counter to put it away.

"Right on! Glad to hear Jack is better." She said with a smile as Ashe took her cash and opened the register to count out her change.

"So…" Jenny asked, "What happened this morning that made you so mad?"

Anny bit her lip, unlike Ashe and Toni, Jenny, Rachel and Karen knew all about their vigilante gig. That and Jenny was psychic so she probably knew far more about what she and her best friends got up to than the other two…

But since An and Double-N told Karen and Rachel they would tell them and Jenny about last night later, Jenny would probably know soon enough if she didn't already, so she might as well talk about what happened this morning and vent a bit about it.

So she sighed and said, "So I was going for my morning run," She said as she turned her back to the counter to put the soy milk away, "And some asshole in a pick up starts hitting on me. I tell him to get lost and started jogging, but the sonuvabitch just started driving beside me and tossed all these stupid pick up lines and shit at me. He followed me for a little over a mile before he finally drove away!" She said, slamming the tiny fridge door shut, "I mean, seriously, I'm not interested in you or your crappy lines! When I say 'get lost', I mean _get lost_! I was _this _close to punching his face in!" she said, pinching her fingers in the air to show just how close she was to hitting that smug, deep voiced little-!

"Hey, my lines weren't _that_ bad." A deep, **_familiar _**voice commented from behind her.

Anny's blood felt like it was turned to ice as she turned around and saw the fucking Basilisk standing there with a cheerful grin on his face, "Hiya cutie." He said, giving her a little finger wave that quickly turned her blood from frozen to boiling.

"**_You_**-" Anny snarled, only for Toni to come to her rescue with a, "Anny, why don't you help me get the rest of this shipment in? Ashe, can you take care of this customer?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Ashe said, a bit nervous at Anny's reaction to his presence before turning to him and asking, "So, what would you like to order?"

Toni gently motioned for Anny to come with her as the curly haired fuck said, "One coffee, black, no cream, no sugar."

Once they were safely back in the loading dock area, Anny saw no other bags like the one her boss had brought to the front, just a few beans spotting the cement floor.

"You can go back up to the front after he clears out." Toni said, obviously concerned. But then again, she knew about her powers and about what happened with her sister, she had a very good idea what could happen if Anny lost control out there.

"Thanks." She said, her tone still angry, but her mind racing.

How the fuck did he know where she worked? Double-N was the only one who had a tracking device put on her last night and the guy drove off before she finished her run and their building had a garage that needed a special pass in the vehicle to get past the gate and a special code they had to type in to get access to the door that led inside the garage.

So how did he know she was here?

Was it just dumb luck?

Ugh, more like her dumb luck! Things often went wrong for her and her friends, it was actually shocking that they managed to survive this long with how awful their luck was. Every strike of bad luck they survived had made them stronger, but this time they'd really gotten handed a shit hand and Anny wasn't sure how they could weasel their way out of this one…

"Are you okay, Anny?" Toni asked, "You know, I've been worried about you three ever since you came back from your try outs…" Anny struggled not to wince at that, their failure aside, Toni knew all about how failed tryouts could make someone depressed… And how, in her sister's case, too many failed try outs had make her so angry she decided to just join the other side. It wasn't hard for her, she'd been in the same grade as her sister and had been An's babysitter, so she knew all about what happened after her sister got fed up with being rejected by the League and joined that gang…

"… I'm fine. Just annoyed." She fibbed.

"Anny…" She said, concerned carved into features.

"What?! The guy followed me for a mile with his annoying pick up lines, you'd be annoyed too! Heck, if it was you, you would have beaten his ass and then called your wife to come over to take pictures of what you did to 'um!" She clenched her fists, "But as much as I really wanted to hit him, I can't do that. I have powers, so I can't hurt innocent people with 'um unless I want to be branded as a criminal like she was…" She then looked her right in the eye, "So if you really are worried about me, don't. If I can put up with that creep for a mile, I can wait until next year for a new round of try outs for them to come to their senses."

Toni considered that for a moment, then put her hands on her shoulders with a sigh, "Alright, but stay here until I tell you that guy is gone, I wouldn't want you to end up down the wrong path because some guy just couldn't get the message."

Anny finally smiled, "Thanks boss."

Toni smiled and headed back to the front, leaving her alone in the loading bay. Once she was out of sight, Anny breathed a sigh of relief.

Then her phone dinged with a message from Jenny, "The guy's gone. You have something to tell me?"

She sighed and texted back, "Party at our place tonight."

Jenny sent back a "I'll bring the Chunky Puffs! ;D"

Anny pushed a few strands of pink hair from her face, now that she had that settled, she needed to figure out how the fuck that guy had found her and think of a way to make him and his shit head brothers regret coming to look for them…

Maybe they had some of their lackeys watching her and her friends for them? After all, they were figureheads in a gang, they probably had all kinds of minions doing their dirty work for them, people gathering information and supplies for them, and covering for them…

She smiled, an idea hitting her, "Maybe it's about time we brought in our own back up…" She purred, now looking forward to the talk she and her best friends would have with others later.

She heard the door to the hall open, "Anny," Toni called, "That guy's gone, you can come back to the front now."

"Thanks Boss." She said, thinking of all the ways her back up could help even the score as Toni led the way back to the front. Once they got to the door that went to the store front, her boss's cell rang and she quickly opened it up, "Hey Hun!" she cooed, motioning for Anny to go on without her as she turned towards the back, most likely to talk to her wife in the break room.

"Well don't you look happy?" Ashe said as she returned to her spot behind the counter, Anny spotting Jenny in a corner with her earbuds in and her laptop open in a back corner.

"So what's got you all cheerful?" Ashe asked, "I mean, I know that guy's gone now, but I also know you tend to rage until you run out of steam or An or Double-N distract you. And they're not here. So…"

Anny smiled broadly, "Oh, I just remembered that there's strength in numbers."

"So, does this mean you're going to ask An and Double-N to go with you on your jogs?" she asked her.

"Not just them." She said, "I'm thinking I might let Jenny, Karen and Rachel come too, just in case."

Ashe smiled broadly, an impish gleam in her eyes "If you all kick his ass, I will need pictures and details." She demanded.

"Count on it." Anny purred, "_I'll make him regret ever walking into my life at all_."


End file.
